Star Lord: The Dark Heart of Nero
by THANOSRULES
Summary: The Legendary Star Lord pursues a wanted criminal through the darkest depths of the Planet Nero and discovers an epic threat to the cosmos. Witness Peter Quill's first horrific encounter with the behomoths of the dark outer realms who are known as the "Many Angled Ones".


**The Legendary Star-Lord**:

_The Dark Heart of Nero_

**Author's note: This story takes place after the events of ****_Annihilation : Conquest _****and before ****_Realm of Kings_****.**

Peter Quill had taken the recovery / bounty job because it was something he needed to finish . He and his new pals were committed to "Guarding the Galaxy" these days, but sometimes old contracts came to call. Dead or alive, this job was _well_ past due.

The old target was a Rigellian named Slammer. He was a first rate terrorist and one of the most dangerous men in the universe. Rigellians were normally pretty mild mannered, but not Slammer. When the Kyln, the biggest space prison the Universe had ever known, had been zapped by Annihilus, Slammer got his freedom. Instead of a new life, Slammer went right back to crime. Slammer became the worst kind of scum. He was a collaborator for the Annihilation Wave during the war. The Kree and Rigellian governments were paying small fortunes for bounties on these kind of guys now that the universe had settled down. After risking his life fighting Annihilus, Quill loved finding these traitors and bringing them to justice.

The planets on the "Crunch", the furthest rim of the universe, were in sad shape these days. Most of them were filled with folks who were down on their luck or who had no money or means to go elsewhere. During the fighting of the Annihilation War, Slammer rounded up a gang of ex-criminals and sociopaths and hit these places hard. He was paid "cash money" by Annihilus to raise hell and cause problems and he was _good_ at the job. Slammer looted and pillaged those worlds with no remorse.

Slammer had moved up now from just another galactic piece of criminal trash to a certified _war criminal._Even **The Legendary Star Lord** would admit this job was a little personal.

Quill had tracked down Slammer jumping around to different run down planets in the Crunch. Slammer was lazy and overconfident. He had never gone far. Slammer always loved being on the edge of the universe. He knew how to thrive by feeding off people who were hard up.

After a few weeks of tracking his sign, Quill gathered that ole' Slammer had stumbled into the possession of something very powerful. The rim was sprinkled with the kind of planets that were devastated by both the Annihilation wave and the Phalanx Conquest, but there were still treasures to be had and fortunes to be made. The Crunch was a desperate place and a man without morals or restraints could make a lot of money out there. An opportunist like Slammer was just that kind of guy.

There was not much law in the Universe these days either. Both Omega Core and the Nova Corps were a thing of the past. Only one Nova Corpsman, Richard Rider, patrolled all of the known Universe. It seemed Slammer couldn't resist the combination of flavors. He bounced around to planet after planet raising hell..but it was clear he was looking for someone or something.

Quill followed his path of destruction through a few of the worlds on the Crunch. A lot of the places Quill knew from his own days stomping around the area were gone, destroyed by the biggest scourge the universe had known.

Pete got a lucky break near the Brown Dwarf system of Aldrag Minor.

An old Nova Corps security network registered a stolen shuttle passing through the system a few weeks back. The network estimated the shuttle was heading to the nearby desert world of Nero. Nero was pretty much a back woods dust bowl most chose to avoid. The place had some impressive mountains and lithium mines but most of that had dried up years ago. Nero had only a few dozen people living on it these days. They were spread out over the surface of the planet mining, scavenging and otherwise struggling to survive.

There was the old rumor, hundreds of years ago, the place had something going for it. Quill recalled there were extensive ruins on Nero that suggested a long forgotten "proto" Kree colony. On Nero all that was left was ruins, dust and a few shady squatters.

It was a ghost world on the edge of the Universe. It was just the kind of place a goon like Slammer went to hide.

Lucky for Pete, he still had a contact he knew in the area. In fact, it was one of the only Skrulls he trusted.

—–

Quill had been waiting at the dirtiest bar in Nero's only Star Port. It was a rundown joint called "Aunties".

Eventually, a fat Skrull waddled through the door and sat up at the bar. The Skrull was heavy set, but his face was chipped from flint. He had deep lines in his face and looked older than he was. The Skrull had lived a hard life. It didnt even bother to hide its imperfections out here. As he sat down, the stool nearly disappeared in his wide back end. Peter knew this Skrull, and unlike most of his race, he was no threat. His name was Garth, and he was an old friend of Quill's.

Garth was one of Quill's only contacts still alive on Nero. Even though they were pals, Pete knew to get the information he wanted, he would need to hook up the old guy. Garth's favorite thing was booze.

Quill took off his helmet and ordered up two straight whiskeys from the Kymelian bartender.

"Hey, how many of these does it take to make the Kymelian chick better looking?", Quill said as he pushed both whiskeys Garth's way."You weren't lying when you said it was slim pickings these days, Garthy" Pete looked around the bar, "The gal's got a serious case of horse face, Garth"

Garth gave off a rich laugh and slapped Pete on the back. " I missed you Quill", he said. Garth's voice still seemed sad. His gut was hanging over his pants, as he pushed the drinks back to Quill and shook his head. He leaned over and pulled out a mason jar of moonshine from his pants and flopped down a coffee mug. He poured himself half the cup of the clear liquid.

"Jeez Garth, your looking rather large these days, I thought you Skrulls couldn't really get fat?" Pete asked.

"Damn genetic disorder Quill, my molecules are out of order, doctor said they were unstable or something. Its a rare Skrull thing." Garth said.

"Well damn buddy, I hope you get that taken care of." Quill said.

"Not likely Quill, its irreversible. I'm stuck this way mostly. But don't worry, I don't have many years left. Let's get a drink, man" Garth said.

"What happened out here Garthy?" Pete asked. "Last I knew this place was doing all right." Pete asked.

"The Wave hit this place hard Pete", He raised up the mug to his face, "Times have been better" He said as he downed nearly all of the cup.

From the look of him now, you wouldn't have known Garth was a top Skrull operative during the Skrull-Xandarian war. Now, Garth looked like a tired old man.

—

After what seemed like hours, and a lot of liquor later, Quill finally got the info he was looking for..

"The Kree who used to live here were old when Halaa was just getting up and running." He said. "I don't know how they came to be here on Nero. No one does, Pete." He wiped his face with his napkin as he went on. "These Kree were seekers of knowledge, but they were greedy…and evil. Here, on Nero, they found something ancient and powerful. They built temples and cities around it. They worshipped whatever it was like a God. But they were fools."

Quill looked at the old man, who was almost in a trance. Peter couldn't tell if he was drunk or just in a daze.

Garth went on, "In time, the sins of their past caught up with them, and they were destroyed." Garth went on like he was pretty fired up. "It was a damn good thing too." he said, somewhat slurring his words.

"Their great temples and palaces were left to ruin. They all died off and were forgotten." Garth looked deep at Peter, "That is, until these new Kree came and started digging at the mountain." Garth looked down deep into his drink. His face went serious. "We always knew to leave the mountain alone."

"Kree? You said Kree? Was there anybody with them Garth?" Quill inquired.

"If you're looking for the Rigellian with a bad attitude, he went to the mountain." he said pointing to the north. He took a long swig of his whiskey and finished it off. "He stopped by here after the Kree jerks."

"Did he say _why_ he was here?" Asked Pete.

"No, but he had something, maybe an artifact, maybe a book. I heard him say he had found something in the Kyln's wreckage" Garth watched Quill signal the bartender. "Whatever he found, the Kree from the ruins wanted it bad." Garth looked around the room. "Quill" he said. "Be careful.. whatever is still down there under the mountain should be left alone."

Pete put his hand on Garth's back. "Thanks man, if you ever need anything just give me a call." Pete said. He walked out of the bar wondering just what the hell Slammer had gotten himself into.

–

Pete's teleport from Knowhere popped him right in the middle of the damn Kree camp. Quill had already drawn both his pistols and was ready to go. He scanned the area for threats with his helmet on , ready for action.

"Dammit Cosmo, you put me right on top of them" Quill said into his comm link.

"Cosmo Sorry Peter ", The Russian space dog said from his remote communication feed, half a million light years away.

Pete scanned the tents with his guns drawn. The laser sights of Pete's pistols probed the boxes and debris. The "Heads Up Display" (HUD) in Peter's helmet cycled through various inanimate objects and discounted them as threats.

The camp was deserted.

Boxes and digging tools were stacked everywhere. Junk was strewn all over the camp. Books were still open and covered with sand. There were blaster burns and bullet holes on some of the tents. Something had broken _bad_ here.

A Kree ship sat at the east end of the camp vacant.

Looters had already ripped out the navigation computer and half the engine. Tents had collapsed and sand was covering everything. The base of the huge mountain was before him. In a small cut not far away, was a smoldering billow of smoke coming from what looked like the entrance to a mine.

"Nobody's home Cosmo" , Quill said.

Quill cautiously advanced to the smoking tunnel.

–

Near the entrance, Quill stepped over a dead pile of Nero's version of coyotes. They looked like they had been shot up with laser fire and used for target practice. Inside the dig site, the place was completely tossed over and ransacked. More gear was thrown about like a hurricane had been through. There were bullet holes through boxes and shell casings littered the dirt floor. Quill thought it was nice to be out of the elements as the wind was whipping fierce outside and battering what was left of the camp. But in the cave, it stunk like rotten death. The smell made Quill miss the wind.

Pete, took a step back when something caught his eye on the far wall. It was no surprise that it stunk so bad in the cave, Pete thought. On the wall, Several wooden beams were set up in an reverse crucifix. Nailed to the wood and upside down was a _burned humanoid corpse_. Nero's flies were swarming about the body.

But it got worse, what was near the ungodly murder scene made Quill even more concerned; _an armed battle robot in active patrol mode. _The robot must have been what shot up the coyotes, Pete thought.

Pete made out the robot to be an older Badoon C487. The version was a rip off of an early Death's Head model that had been out of service for awhile. The C487s packed a punch, but Pete was definitely glad it was not a Kree Sentry or something else. The robot had the typical "Death's Head II " look for its upper torso and head piece. Instead of legs, the robot had some flexible polymer tank treads. Weapons on the C487s varied. The unit could be retrofitted with just about anything. This particular one was carrying a hand held Kree Gatling laser.

A red laser from a targeting device on the robot's temple quickly sensed Pete's movement. The robot did not hesitate when it saw Quill. A spilt second later, the laser blasts rattled off from its Gatling like heavy rain. The chain gun's salvo ripped through a tipped over cart of boxes like a saw. Wood splinters went everywhere. Quill dove for the nearest form of cover.

Quill immediately went on the offensive. Pete brought two identical Galadoran M-34 "Wraith Rippers" to this party, and _it was time to exchange gifts_. The firearms shot highly explosive synthetic bullets with nano expansion and a plasma layer overcoat. The synthetic material was nearly as hard as some rare metals like _adamantium_. Whatever the rounds didn't punch a hole through, they burned. A couple magazines full of the bullets cost more than most scavengers on Nero would make in a life time.

He sprayed the robot with a short burst and dove for cover. Quill's shots hit the robot low in the tread housing. A puff of smoke spit out as the plasma tipped rounds set in to the metal. The android looked down in frustration at its own tread set as it struggled to move. As Quill popped up for another blast, he was nearly blown away by a salvo from the heavy laser. Just like that, Quill was pinned down. The Gatling laser could put down a whole company of dim wits in the right hands, and the robot was operating with mathematical precision.

The laser blasts continued to hammer the boulder Quill was hiding behind. The weapon was so formidable, the weak granite boulder began to chip away. Pete did not have much time. Quickly, he reached into his pocket. Pete carried an EMP burst on him that was mostly only good for cameras or alarms. Most battle robots were wired against EMP, but this older one might not be. It was a decent shot, and if it didn't work he would be joining the coyotes in the pile by the door.

Quill had stuffed the EMP into a bouncy ball for some extra versatility. It was an old trick he had learned fighting the Phalanx. Unfortunately, with the robot relentlessly pounding his cover, Pete didn't have the luxury of a good peek before he threw the EMP.

Like a blind sky hook , Quill flipped the bouncy ball in the direction of the robot. Three seconds later, the pulse went off. A few of the residual cybernetic implants in Quill's skin twitched. The laser blasts stopped. Pete took a quick peek at the smoking pile of bolts. The droid's capacitors were completely fried by the pulse.

To be safe Quill plugged a few rounds into the thing's central processor. The machine fizzled as it's eye sockets went completely dark. Soon, the thing stopped humming with power. It was "dead".

Pete rummaged through the room to look for some sort of clues. A note near the dead body shed some light on the situation.

_Lokash,_

_I have confirmed the Rigellian is in possession of the book.. Seems it was encased in the Kyln as a security precaution all this time. Please take great care to ensure its retrieval. The site is on Nero. Make sure the Kree do not obtain this item and begin the invocation of the first ritual. That would be an unneeded complication. Whatever you do, do not disturb the beast below the mountain. Releasing that unto this realm would be counterproductive. Do this thing and you will be well compensated. Failure will result in dire consequences. Do not read the tomb under any circumstances. I would hate to become personally involved in this matter._

_D_

There was blood smeared on the letter.

This was clearly a ritualistic killing. Maybe Lokash had been some sort of spy, Pete wondered. He didn't know who "D" was, but he knew the guy with the note had very likely been "Lokash". An old Omega Core uniform was tossed over to the side of the body with a name tape labeled "Lokash" on it. Rocket science, Pete thought.

Pete didn't know Slammer to be into any sort of black magic, but maybe these Kree were more than just average archaeologists? Omega core had been good guys. They fought with the Allied Front during the war. Pete wondered, what was one doing here helping Slammer?

There was no sign of the Kree or Slammer, just a big hole with dig tools around it going down. There was foot sign all around the hole and a broken pulley for a simple lift system.

—-

Quill put his hand down on the rock and jumped over the fallen beam. What he thought was a floor was just another dust covered sheet. He punched through it and fell an additional twenty feet into a dark shaft. He landed on his feet and aimed his pistols into the darkness.

The fall would have stunned a normal person, but the "Star Lord" took it without a flinch.

Ebon wisps of shadow tickled his fear as he descended into the madness of the depths. In these catacombs, fear was something real, it was tangible here. But Peter was the Star Lord, and these things did not bother him. It would be impossible to return from the way he came. He walked onward.

Clear footprints in the dust here led into the darkness. The stench of rot and death here was overpowering. After wandering aimlessly for what seemed like hours , Quill felt like he was back on Slammer's trail.

"Cosmo, can you read me?" Quill said into his helmet over the open communication link. Nothing responded.

"Mantis, Vance , anyone?" He said, still nothing responded. Something was jamming his link to "Knowhere".

The red eye sockets of his nano concealable helmet gave off a bloody glow in the darkness. There was absolutely no light in these reaches. Even through his mask's filters, the air felt stale and heavy.

The chamber ahead of him was more of the same. Even with Quill's night vision and thermal detection he could not see much. Everything was colder than it should be. Quill could make out smashed boulders and splintered timber beams. There were shattered rows of church pews rotting in huge mangled piles. This must have been the temple.

Quill looked up toward the wide part of the ceiling. In the center of the room he could not even see the top. The walls of the ceiling spiraled up here. It was an impressive underground complex.

Pete clicked a small lever on his pistol. He aimed up to the high point of the room and squeezed the trigger. A light "pop" sent the shot looping up in the air. The flare round flickered with bursting phosphorus and light, sending sparks from the round about the room. A slight glow filled the chamber. The glow from the flare round still didn't reveal much else, but it was better than nothing. Quill could make out some odd tapestries on the walls. They had images on them that looked nightmarish. Most of the stone walls and floors had similar weird carvings and reliefs. The markings looked like alien geometric shapes of unfathomable complexity. Quill got an uneasy feeling by looking at them. In all his travels, Pete hadn't seen images like that.

The smell continued to get worse. It was a mixture of dead carrion and rotting wood. Pete was glad he had on his helmet, but even that couldn't filter out the foul stink. It was likely filled with deadly mold spores, Pete thought. The air must have been deadly toxic.

Quill side stepped a large puddle on the floor. His boot grazed the surface of the water and sent a elegant ripple down the stagnant surface. Peter got the impression the water hadn't been disturbed in a hundred years.

Still, no sign of Slammer.

"Maybe I was wrong about him coming down here…maybe nobodies home. It's a little dark for a Rigellian. " Peter thought.

"Hello! " Quill shouted out. His voice echoed through the black limits of the space and rang through an expanse that seemed impossibly large. "Anybody Home?"

Nothing answered him.

Quill cycled his HUD view to thermal ambient detection. For a second, he thought he had picked up a ghost heat image of Slammer's footprints.. but that didn't make much sense. Slammer would have been here days, if not weeks, ago. Quill didn't expect to find him at this point.

Pete got to the dark edge of the chamber and came to a horrific revelation. There was no limit to the room here at all. A set of massive stairs went down to a wide open black expanse. The second chamber was truly massive, whatever race built this place was capable of amazing feats of engineering, Quill imagined.

Quill squeezed off another flare round here. The sight made Quill gasp. The second level was of preposterous size and dimensions. Odd broken statues adorned this hall. There were more weird carvings and designs on the floors and walls. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust. Piles of debris were everywhere. The room certainly looked disturbed, but there was no real trace of Slammer, Quill thought.

In the swirling black, Quill could make out something between the debris and smashed pews. In what he perceived was the central portion of the room, there was a huge square obelisk and a bunch of smashed timbers. A few different jars and ornate vases were centered on this area. It looked like some sort of collapsed alter.

The alter had a shaped portion of it that looked like it was made from bone. Intricate etchings were carved into the bone of distorted faces and features. Much of the bone was carved as if it was cords of a twisting rope...or maybe entrails. Inside, the surface had been scooped and shaped into what looked like a bowl. The bone structure looked like it may have been a container or gruesome vesicle for liquid. Pete wondered what grizzly purpose such a container could be used for and what kind of horrible liquid would be placed inside. Quill wondered if it held sacrificial blood.

Below the container, was a thick stone slab. A thick piece of polished granite was deeply scarred with rutted slash marks and dark stains of worn usage. The slab was the perfect size for a humanoid sized body. The scars were clearly blows from a sharpened dagger or axe. The marks ran deep, and they sat at the level on the slab of a humanoid neckline. The rocky surface was still stained with what easily could have been blood. Clearly, some sort of human sacrifice went on here.

As Pete looked closer at the portion made from bone, he realized it was most likely made from the bones of the ancient Kree ancestors that his friend Garth had spoken about.

Quill noticed something else. Slumped over, in front of the Alter, sitting in a puddle was a hunched over figure. From what he could tell, it was a person. Quill aimed his pistols at the figure. Two blue beams from Pete's laser sights scanned the dark shadow. The digital HUD in his helmet flashed the word "CAUTION". The image outlined an area near the figure's side in red, denoting the presence of a firearm.

Quill clicked the safety of his pistols to the "off" position with his thumbs.

"Hey there buddy, how we doing?" Quill asked. There was no answer.

The head of the figure leaned over and was covered with shadow. It did not flinch at Quills voice. Pete did think he heard something fidget in the darkness beyond the alter, but he was not sure.

Quill aimed a few feet from the body's head and squeezed the trigger to his pistol. Slammer was too dangerous to take a chance. A pop sounded loud in the silent chamber and a quick pulse of a plasma coated bullet clipped the fallen timbers. The round buried in the wood a few inches from the body's shoulder. The bullet sizzled into the rotting wood. A small harmless fire broiled from the bullet hole. Still, the figure was motionless and did not move.

Quill got closer. His HUD now had a fix on the body and was scanning the facial images and frame structure of the corpse. It read that it was a five foot five, Rigellian male, One hundred forty five pounds. Subcutaneous indicators of nanobiotic injections and treatments typical of Kyln prisoners. ID matched target Slammer. No vital signs were detected.

"Damn, man.. what did you find down here?" Quill said as he knelt down near the body.

Slammer's eyes were _burst open_, red blood oozed from the sockets. His big Rigellian egg head looked like it had been knocked around and was swelling. _Good_, thought Quill. Slammer's chest was a massive hole. There was black blood all over his environment suit. He had bled out all over the floor here. The large wound seemed to imply his heart had been removed. Of course the puddle was not water, but was Slammer's blood. Quill jumped back, "Gross!" He said, as he tried to wipe the blood off of his shoe on a timber.

Peter looked closely at Slammer's neck. It had been sliced from ear to ear. He's clearly been murdered down here, Quill Ritualistic killing. Slammer's past finally caught up with him. But this job was sloppy, almost rushed. There were more shell casings nearby and blast marks on some of the debris. A fight went down here. Pete wondered, maybe there had been some sort of double cross?

Quill side stepped the pool of blood and went through Slammer's pockets. He pulled out the small pistol. It was a slim line Shi' ar proton blaster. The pistol's energy gauge read "Empty". Pete tossed the thing on the ground. Pete looked more. Nothing. Slammer didn't seem to have any artifact of unimaginable power anymore. He didn't even seem to have a heart.

Then, out of the black, the horror began.

In the distance, beyond the alter, Pete began to hear a subtle clicking noise. It started low at first, like a small cricket or bug. Then, it began to increase and get louder.

Quill crouched near Slammer's motionless body and listened. He squeezed both of the grips to his pistols and flipped the safeties off again.

The clicking noise slowly gained even more volume. Something in the dark depths was getting closer. Quill dashed behind a huge clump of timbers to find some functional cover. He scanned the darkness for whatever was making those noises. Pete thought he heard a crash and the noise of snapping timbers.

Everywhere, Pete heard a clicking and chirping. It was like a tree frog or grasshopper, but somehow more alien and horrific. It seemed like it was behind Peter now. It was all around. It was everywhere!

In the black chasm leading below, the clicking grew louder. Quill heard groans and voices now as well.

"Uh Oh, not good… " Quill said to himself.

Quill tried his comm link again, "Cosmo , old buddy, tell me you can hear me , I need an out and fast!"

Quill thought he heard Cosmo's voice on the other end. It was heavily distorted.

"Damn", thought Pete.

The sinister clicking turned to a gut wrenching howl, like a Loon or some nocturnal bird of prey. It was a maddening cacophony of terrifying sounds. Pete began to hear crashing and shifting of objects. It was near.

Then, rising from below, Quill saw the outline of some _thing_. The shadow was a massive black shape emerging from the depths. Huge, tree trunk sized, tentacles of black whipped around its body like a typhoon. The tendrils looked like they were lined with sharp edges. The dimensions of the thing were impossible.

"Crap!" Quill said and simultaneously unloaded a whole magazine into the black blob.

The shots all hit home. The shadowy chamber erupted with the flash of gun fire and the glow of dancing plasma rounds. The rounds hissed as they buried into the horror, as smoking flames erupted from the wounds. The thing shrieked in pain! It was a terrible noise, like the sound of a pack of coyotes in the night, but it kept coming. The noise of the thing's injured cry suddenly made Quill sick to his stomach.

A huge tentacle came down on the alter like a thunderous coach whip. Massive wooden timbers and metal framing snapped and went flying. The stone slab broke apart with a thunderous crack. Giant splinters went everywhere. Quill jumped out of the way, firing well aimed pairs at the beast while he sailed through the air. Shell casings ejected from his pistols and piled up on the stone floor. The sound of the dropping metal jackets was almost musical.

The thing lumbered on toward Quill. Peter glared at the thing and tried to comprehend what he saw. His helmet's HUD was no help. It kept scanning the thing and only returned "XENOMORPH: UNKNOWN ENTITY, STANDBY.., energy detected, MAGICAL/ INTER DIMENSIONAL/ OR UNKNOWN ORIGIN".

"Great", thought Quill, a magic alien horror from D'ast knows where and no way out. "At least I was already buried, it would save Cosmo and the gang a few bucks." Quill thought to himself.

Quill jumped again to avoid a swipe of the tentacle. It's razor thin end cut a solid wood timber in half. He could make out the form of the creature. There were spines and mouths in awkward places. He saw several eyes that looked just randomly strewn across its shifting body. Every time Peter blinked, he thought the thing looked different. "What the hell is this thing?" Quill wondered.

"POSSIBLE DETECTION OF INVASIVE/HOSTILE ALIEN PHEROMONES." Quill's helmet flashed. Peter did notice he was feeling sick. He was also feeling unusually mad and angry, "Where the hell was Cosmo?" He changed magazines and jumped to move again. Pete wondered if this thing had some ability to effect him that he couldn't see.

Pete was shooting through ammunition quick. He noticed he was getting low, only a couple magazines were left in his pouch. Quill began to think he was done for. His stomach had gone from upset to on fire. Something in the air was effecting him.

"Time for the big guns", Quill thought, then paused."Da'ast, I wish I brought some"

After a couple of impressive flips over a rotten timber, he popped a few more shots right at the thing. At the same time, Pete unhooked a grenade from his coat, flipped off the tab, planted his feet, and chucked the frag at the cosmic mess. His aim was right on. A gibbering mouth of the beast gobbled up the explosive and burped.

Peter dove for cover behind a cluster of boulders. The chamber shook with the explosion. Dust and dirt went everywhere. A huge tapestry fell from the wall behind Star Lord.

Peter got up and listened. The clicking came back. The thing was still alive.

"D'ast " Quill said as he looked down at his bandoleer. Three frags left, Peter checked. It would have to do.

"Cosmo, tell everybody it was a blast", Quill said as he looked at the black creature slithering his way. "I think this bitch may be indestructible."

"You can't have my bed either.. or my summer sausage, I won that fair and square from your boy Rider. ", He said as he pulled out the belt of grenades. No one answered on his comm link. Quill looked down at his passport bracelet. Nothing. He was trapped in this tomb and going to die here, eaten by a cosmic horror.

Quill pulled the tab on one of the frags. This time he chucked the whole belt at the nightmare. Once again, his aim was right on. The belt looped around one of the sharp spikes coming from the beast's body. Pete dove for the ground and curled up in a ball.

The explosion was massive. The place shook again, timbers went flying. One giant splinter buried itself into Quill's shoulder. Pete cried out in pain. Boulder and rock came down on him. This is it, Pete thought as everything went black.

The scratchy Russian voice came pounding in Peter's head.

"Peter Quill, this is Cosmo, it critical you pay.."

Quill groaned as he gained his senses. It was Cosmo. Pete was twisted in a gnarled version of someone's cruel idea of a "dying cockroach" position. Hundreds of pounds of rock and wood were on top of him. His back felt smashed.

"Cut it out dog, get me out of here." Quill said as he lifted the rocks and boulders off his chest. He put his hand on his lumbar vertebrae and rubbed the area in pain.

"Peter, we've been trying to reach you, the thing you are fighting is off the charts. I've never seen anything like it " Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the Universe, said as she came on the feed from Knowhere.

"Well, its good to hear _your_ voice again, Gams" Quill said.

"Peter, no can leave the monster alive, will hurt others. Is cosmic level threat." Cosmo added.

"Well, I happened to kill it already, Cosmo, thanks for the interest in the matter." Quill said as he scanned the dark expanse of wreckage for the thing. Who did this dog think he was?, Quill thought to himself.

Quill's passport beacon blinked and whirred with some power.

"Hey it works again!" Pete shouted.

"Quill, Cosmo can't get us in, there's off the charts energy going on there. I don't think you killed it", it was the voice of Vance Astrovik on the comm link. "It almost looks like a fault reading, but Cosmo is not sure. Maybe a _dimensional_ portal." Vance said.

"Pete, we don't think you killed it.. it looks like…" Vance's transmission was cut short with static.

At the same time, a huge crash put Quill back on guard. Quill went flying as the rubble beneath him cleared out. Rising above him with murderous fury was the amorphous nightmare. The beast rose to massive height with a single monstrous mouth and a thousand razor sharp teeth, all oozing with horrid slime. Quill's HUD scanned the monster and sent back messages that the thing's power levels were surging. Quills stomach felt overwhelmed with nausea.

"D'ast" Quill whispered under his breath. He tried hard not to gag with sickness. There had to be an aggressive bio toxin flowing through the chamber, maybe from the monster itself.

Quill pointed up his pistols and squeezed away. He unloaded round after round into the beast.

The plasma rounds Quill shot were not even phasing it now.

A huge tendril rocked down, twice as thick as it was before, and smashed the stone floor. Flying rocks sent Pete down to the ground.

The beast called out, "STAR LORD!", in a horrific, layered voice. The words sounded like more than one person speaking, Pete thought. An echo to the voice whispered and said, "It calls itself the Star Lord". "HAHAHAHAHAHA!", the huge mouth laughed as voice phased into unbearable insect like clicking.

"Oh D'ast guys, it knows my name. It may also be having a conversation with _itself_.", Quill said as he reloaded what he had into the pistol.

"Pete, Cosmo has an idea." Vance said over the radio. "Your passport", Vance said, he was breaking up badly. "Cosmo says to throw your passport _inside_ _it_."

The "passport" was the bracelet the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy used to teleport around space. It was a conduit of the Continuum Cortex, the powerful cerebellum of a dead celestial on the colony, Knowhere. With the passport, the Guardians could teleport nearly anywhere.

"What? How am I supposed to get out then?" Pete asked.

"Cosmo is going to 'port the thing into the nearby sun. He says it _should_fry it." Vance added.

Quill jumped away from a slicing blow from the monster. Pete was trying not to buckle over with pain in his shoulder and stomach.

"Wont it have to come to Knowhere, first?" Quill asked as he jumped away from another arm.

"Only for millisecond," Cosmo said in his Russian dog voice.

"Pete, we have everyone here just in case" Vance said, "We'll figure it out , just do it! "

"Peter must wait! Cosmo forgot to tell…" The dog said. "Passport will only work around a people wrist, must cut off own hand and throw it at monster or else no work."

"Well that sucks because..", just then, instead of Quill saying to Cosmo he would not , of course, cut off his own hand, he noticed the gnarled arm of one Rigellian Scumbag by the name of Slammer.

Quill did a somersault battle roll over to Slammer's body, dodging the razor wire wisps of the beast's tail along the way. Quill's shoulder was burning in agony.

In one quick motion, Pete unsheathed his combat knife from his boot. He propped Slammer's wrist in the air and sliced it in half like it was butter. Quickly, he rushed back, dodging another attack from the monster. The thing ripped Slammer in two pieces with the weight of its tentacle. Pete squeezed his last rounds off as the horror came forward.

"Get ready, guys, here goes nothing," Pete said into the mic "If this thing gets loose on Knowhere, DO NOT let it get my Summer Sausage"

Quill put the passport bracelet on the Rigellian Wrist. With a clean arc, he threw it right into the mouth of the creature. Peter heard the churn of its nightmarish stomach as it dropped in. He was "on" with his aim today.

A second later, the chamber lit up with the blue effects of the Continuum Cortex's grasp. The beast began to fade into nothingness.

"Is good! It working!" Quill heard Cosmo say in his comm link.

Back on Knowhere, at the arrival pad for the Continuum Cortex teleporter, the entire Guardians stood alert for the Cosmic Horror to blink in. Behind them, the Knowhere security officers backed them up with rifles pointed at the same spot. Even the _Luminals_, another super powered team who called Knowhere home, were there to provide assistance if needed. Rocket stood on Groot's shoulders with a huge gun pointed at the spot as the group anxiously awaited a dark being of near limitless power.

Cosmo saw the outline of the beast appear like a flash. Immediately, the dog went to work at the terminal. The outline of the abomination's massive form and huge tendrils waved around in the bay. Slowly, it began to solidify.

But just like that, the monster blinked out and was gone.

"Cosmo, where the hell is that thing?", Vance Astro asked.

Cosmo ignored Vance for a second as he furiously tapped his paws on the Cortex's controls.

Cosmo paused, "Million light years away, in the Sun of Nero,", Cosmo said with a doggy smile. (_Cosmo's teeth were quite nice_) "Hope he have sun screen".

–

The cosmic horror reappeared on the molten surface of the star with a flash of the Continuum Cortex's blue light.

Huge arcs of the Sun's _corona effect_ billowed up from the blazing surface.

No mortal eyes would see as the monster from the depths was consumed by a fire burning at three and a half million degrees. There was no one to see the ancient evil burn or hear the last clicking chirps from an old God from time immortal.

If human brains could perceive the insane thoughts of what it called a mind, they would note that the beast, in this last moment, took something akin to solace at the notion that a billion years from now, when this Sun went Nova and exploded, it would once again be free. For now, the beast simply glibbered one last call and burned to nothingness.

"_Yet with strange Aeons, even death may die."_

Peter Quill looked up at the rubble sealing him in the dark tomb. He could barely see anything. There was not any light now with the place all fallen down around him. All Pete's flares had been used up. The spot where the wood splinter had hit him in the shoulder was throbbing with pain. He was exhausted. At least his stomach felt better.

"Guys my suits ripped too, I can't do space. Just FYI", Quill said into his comm link. Quill moved a timber out of the way, "Guys?", Quill asked, there was no answer.

Quill tried to ping Knowhere. Nothing. The Continuum Cortex must have been allowing him to use his communication equipment this deep under Nero's surface. Now he was truly alone.

"Damn, why didn't we think of that?", he cursed.

Quill walked down the corridor back in to the original room. He walked past more massive tapestries. The place was still dark, but he felt a bit more at ease with the monster not _that_ relaxed. Quill hesitated to wonder,what if there were _others_ down here?

With the way above sealed, and no communication, Quill decided the only thing to do was to continue to explore. That meant heading down in almost total darkness.

Quill got up and hobbled toward the back of the chamber. There he found some more stairs leading below. The steps were smaller than a normal person's foot size. Peter could not tell in the low light if these steps were just worn with time or meant for smaller feet by design.

At the base of the stairs, the passage narrowed into a large hallway. It was gilded with tarnished metals and etched with wild glyphs. Below the stair, huge monolithic columns stretched to awesome heights and faded into shadows. If Pete could have seen better, he would have noticed more images and carvings of perverse alien geometry. His night vision gear was practically useless now.

Eventually the hallway of giants, ended in a sunken room.

Without a flare, Pete could not see much here. There were large statues in rows along the side the room. The figures were certainly not human nor were they any ancient Kree. They all looked something similar to the strange beast that Peter had just encountered and destroyed. Some of the images defied any sane level of biology. They were huge creatures with fangs, hooks and sharp teeth. Their bodies had uncanny and strange angles. The physical proportions on the creatures were enough to make Quill's stomach hurt again.

Quill found one that looked _very_ similar to the beast he had destroyed. Some weird alien writing was found below it, covered with dust. A strange dripping resonated in the chamber. The floor seemed was not known for underground springs, but under this mountain, anything was possible.

As Peter looked over the group of statues, he thought to himself, this was a _pantheon_! He knew that, long ago, some sinister race had worshiped these things. This was their foul temple.

At the end of the row of statues, Quill passed before a giant set of stone doors. He was incredibly deep under Nero's surface now. The stale air and pressure were intense. His vision was adjusting more, and in this room, some phosphorescent moss gave off a faint glow.

The door was etched with an incredible and massive bas-relief. It was one of the most impressive carvings he had seen in the entire temple. Even more amazing, Quill recognized this icon. The image made Quill shudder. There was no joke or wisecrack to lighten the mood. Nobody was listening here, in the deep, anyways. The picture was, of course, another terrifying creature. The beast was huge and consisted of a giant detached EYE, unblinking, in the darkness. Attached to it, several other spiny tendrils came off the central body, all with smaller eyes on the end of massive stalks.

This was _Shuma-Gorath_. Quill had seen images of this beast in the files of Knowhere and Halaa. He knew it was an entity of near limitless power and evil.

It was here where Quill noticed a last statue, standing awkwardly near the door.

He approached the thing to get a better look at what it was.

"Hello Peter Quill.", the man said.

Pete pulled up his pistol, aimed in on the man and squeezed the trigger. He heard the numerous clicks of the trigger and tapping of the hammer falling on an empty magazine. He had no ammo left. Quill immediately dropped down to his knee and pulled out his combat knife.

"D'ast who the heck are you?", Pete asked.

"You don't need to know. My name is not given easily.", the dark man said.

Quill contemplated rushing the shadow with his knife, but at this point he was just too tired and curious.

"What is this place?" Quill asked.

"A dark passage wherein beings of great power walk." The man said. "These images, some would call them Gods. Some call them "Many Angled Ones". They came from the places in between, from unfathomable gulfs even beyond my dark dimension.", the man said.

"What was Slammer doing here?" , Quill asked.

"Answers are not something you will get from me. I am no teacher. If you are asking about "The Thief", he has been dealt with." He said.

"Slammer? He stole something from you?" Peter asked as he lowered his knife.

"Your associate had something he shouldn't have had. Something old and very powerful." , The Shadow explained." His own greed killed him. Just as it killed all those who once lived here."

"The Kree?", asked Peter.

"I simply came to recover what had been stolen from me. All actions have consequences.", the man added.

"What kind of book are we talking about here?" Pete noticed the man was holding a small book bound in a strange scarred leather. "That it?"

"It goes by many names. It is a book of great power." ,the man said.

Peter didn't really care much anymore. He wondered how this was going to all end. Slammer was dead, he could collect the bounty from the data stream in his HUD, it would proof enough. This mission was over.

"I sense the guilt in you Star Lord. You are troubled by something. You will be troubled even more one day.", the dark man said. The man waved his hand at the carving of Shuma-Gorath, "This door. It once led to places in between realities. Places where the many angled ones called home. It now leads to a place you will find safety in."

"What kind of place?" Pete asked, "How do you know about me?" Quill questioned.

"I am no tour guide either, Peter Quill, but I have no quarrel with you."

Pete looked at the door. Walking through a door with Shuma's image on it was not typically a "Peter Quill move", but he was desperate and had no choice. Pete reached for the edges of the stone wall and grunted hard. The thing would not budge.

The stranger waved his hand and the doors glowed red. Peter stepped back in caution. Shuma-Gorath's eye looked blood red as the door opened just enough for Quill to squeeze through. The doors creaked with lost time. Strange cold air came rushing into the chamber.

Quill felt wind rushing down. The air seemed fresh.

As he walked across the doorway, Quill felt a strange sensation, as if he was crossing ancient wards and mystic barriers. His head felt disoriented for a second.

He looked back at his stranger. The man stood still watching Peter. To Peter's amazement the man's head was now _on fire_ and _burning_. The man was in no pain or distress. The stranger still stood motionless and looked at Quill. Behind the man, the horrific chamber filled with grotesque statues could be seen in much greater detail. Behind that was the _ultimate horror_…impaled on the walls, in a gruesome sight, several meters in the air, were the bleeding bodies of several Kree! _These must have been the scientists who had hired Slammer!, Quill Thought._

The man spoke one last time to Peter, "Take heed _Star Lord_, and never again lock yourself in the territory of the _Many Angled Ones_ without knowing how to get out." A smile could be seen beneath the flames on what was the being's mouth. "_Dread Dormammu_ does not grant a boon twice." The stranger said as it tucked the book with strange leather binding into his cloak. In his other hand the man held something that made Quill _rock_ with queasiness. In the off hand of the dark one, was a bloody heart! There could be little doubt it was the heart of the Rigellian named Slammer!

The door slammed shut, cutting off all Peter's vision of the sinister stranger and of the room. Quill found himself now in a secondary chamber with another set of doors. These ones looked far simpler with a practical lever and pulley system.

As Quill opened this second set of doors, more wind and now snow rushed in. The air was cold and blasted Quill. He felt the sting of winter on his ripped suit near the shoulder wound. Natural light of a giant full moon rushed into the chamber as the doors rumbled open.

Quill stepped out, blinded by the moon light. His feet gained traction in what seemed like deep snow. Peter nearly stumbled forward over a huge rocky precipice, a thick sheet of show sailed of the ledge and crashed down to rocks below. Pete was exhausted. He was outdoors now, and the weather was drastically different than when he had entered the ruins. A huge snowstorm was howling and swirling in the ancient valley below.

The deserts of Nero were no longer in sight. In the distance, Quill could see the light of a small fire. Far below, near the fire he saw the outline of a small town. The moon was full and beaming its reflection off the white snow. Quill paused, as something just dawned on him. _Nero had no moon!_

Peter's HUD cycled through its positioning software to find its spatial orientation. It cycled through maps and star charts, planets. It settled on EARTH and HIMILYANA MOUNTAIN RANGE , TIBET. Closest human settlement 8.9 miles South east.

"Tibet?!, Quill exclaimed.

Quill took a step back. He looked behind him at the area he had come from. The doors were gone! Where the thick stone doors had been, only snow and natural rock remained. His footprints were still there showing a trail from a wall of old rock and ice. The wind and snow howled. Quill thought he could hear insect like clicking over the wind.

Somehow, Peter Quill, _the Star Lord_, had just traveled six million light years in the blink of an eye.

"Tibet?" Quill said again,

"Peter is that you?" Gamora came on the feed from Knowhere.

"Peter, we are all here on Nero, we're getting someone to dig you out!" She said with enthusiasm.

"_Might want to take a break, Gams_", Peter said.

Peter kept walking in the knee deep snow toward the town. He began to pick up a nice rocky trail on the side of the mountain. Every so often, he would lose his balance and was hungry and he could only think of one thing.

"Hey Gamora? Can you go back to Knowhere and grab my summer sausage?" Quill said as he continued walking toward the town below.

**EPILOGUE**

Trina Sparkles was cleaning up Knowhere just as she did every night.

Trina always loved sweeping the Cortex room. The crew in there and Cosmo the dog were always doing such exciting stuff. There was no telling what kind of bugs she would find in there today.

Trina loved bugs. She collected all sorts. So many neat bugs could be found on Knowhere. Bugs from all over the universe came here. Trina had hundreds of them back in her apartment.

As one of the Janitors on Knowhere, nobody could find 'em better than her. She found 'em deep down in all the secret places of Knowhere. It was one of the best parts of her job.

Those new guys who called themselves the _Guardians of the Galaxy_ would sometimes have little ones she had never seen before on their shoes, they must have tracked them in from God knows where. One of them was even named _Bug_.. he was so adorable. Trina always smiled at him.

Trina looked down at the pad. The Cortex room was such a neat spot to find her bugs!

But today, Trina saw something _different_.

"Hello there!" She whispered as she looked down at the black speck on the floor.

A "little _Squiggle_r", she thought. "Extra squirmy, like a good worm" She said out loud.

What Trina found wasn't a worm though, not like she had ever seen. She picked up the black thing.

"Good for me!", she thought, as she pulled out a glass jar from a bag in her janitor's cart.

Trina plopped the little sucker down in the large mason jar.

She looked through the glass with her big eye.

"Another critter for the collection!", she thought.

Inside the jar, for a second, Trina thought she saw a little mouth _smile_..

_Star-Lord and the characters in this story are the property of Marvel Comics. This story is intended as a "Fan Fiction" / Homage and not for personal profit or gain._

_Star Lord was created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan_

Bryan Dyke


End file.
